IFM Investors Pty Ltd Grows Holdings in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its stake in shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 4.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 87,473 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,339 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd’s holdings in News were worth $2,290,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of News by 104.8% during the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,608 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 823 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in News by 48.2% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 59,280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,189,000 after acquiring an additional 19,282 shares during the period. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC acquired a new position in News in the 3rd quarter valued at about $233,000. Oak Thistle LLC increased its stake in News by 4.1% during the third quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 55,097 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,105,000 after purchasing an additional 2,192 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of News by 47.6% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 66,581 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,336,000 after purchasing an additional 21,484 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

News Stock Up 0.0 %

NASDAQ:NWSA traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $24.22. The stock had a trading volume of 1,725,029 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,036,313. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. News Co. has a twelve month low of $16.35 and a twelve month high of $28.00. The company has a market capitalization of $13.83 billion, a PE ratio of 60.55 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.89.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. News had a net margin of 2.29% and a return on equity of 4.14%. The company’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.14 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that News Co. will post 0.71 EPS for the current year.

News Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.8%. News’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on NWSA. TheStreet upgraded shares of News from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Macquarie upgraded shares of News from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, News currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.50.

News Company Profile

News Corporation, a media and information services company, creates and distributes authoritative and engaging content, and other products and services for consumers and businesses worldwide. It operates in six segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other.